Tuesday November 11, 08:42 AM
Sands to halt Macau expansion as credit crunch bites
MACAU (AFP) - Las Vegas Sands (NYSE: LVS - news) said Tuesday it was halting part of its huge development in the gambling haven of Macau due to trouble accessing credit amid the global financial crisis.
The firm, which operates two casinos in Macau including the giant Venetian, said in a statement that work on parts of a 12 billion dollar resort and casino development on a reclaimed strip of land -- called the Cotai Strip -- would be stopped.
"Sites five and six on the Cotai Strip will be temporarily suspended until conditions in the capital markets improve," the Las Vegas-based firm said in a statement.
It said it would continue to seek financing that would allow it to complete the project, which includes an 1,800-room Sheraton hotel and three casinos.
"Our temporary suspension programme will enable us to recommence development in an efficient fashion, should sufficient capital to complete phase one of our development plans become available on reasonable terms," the statement said.
It said work on the Four Seasons private apartments in Macau and its Marina Bay Sands project in Singapore would continue.
The company, whose US-listed share price has plummeted from 148 dollars last October to around 8 dollars this month on worries about its debt burden, said it was "in the process of" raising an additional 2 billion US dollars in funding commitments.
The firm has invested heavily in Macau, spending 2.4 billion dollars on the giant Venetian casino-resort, and is planning a new version of the Las Vegas Strip on the Cotai Strip.
Its aggressive expansion in the United States and abroad and the credit crunch have left Las Vegas Sands struggling to service its 10 billion dollars of debt.
Reports said that chief executive Sheldon Adelson loaned the firm 475 million dollars of his own money last month.
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